The impact of intensive agriculture on the bird community of a sand dune desert

Bird community structure and diversity measures in sand dune habitats adjacent to and distant from modern farms in Wadi Araba, south-west Jordan, were compared using 52 line transects for breeding birds and habitat variables. We used a variety of analytical methods, including multi-variate analysis to describe bird assemblages and determine the best indication of agricultural impact in arid ecosystems using quantitative data on birds. A considerable change in the structure of the bird community of sand dunes surrounding farming projects was measured to a distance of up to 1 km, but could neither be related to changes in habitat structure nor to the activity of opportunistic predators as these did not vary significantly between the two samples. The farms included lines of trees and offered a constant source of water, which attracted a variety of opportunistic species. The absence of characteristic ground-dwelling species of open sand dune habitats in the structurally intact sand dunes surrounding farms was likely to be the result of localized, but effectively far-reaching habitat modification and/or competition with some of the opportunistic species, which were common around farms.